Grand Central Food Program

The Grand Central Food Program (GCFP) was founded in 1985 the day after a homeless woman died of starvation in Grand Central Terminal. Since then, the program has grown to become the largest mobile soup kitchen in New York.

Each night, our three vans deliver healthy meals of hot stew, bread, fresh fruit, and juice or milk — as well as coats, hats, gloves and blankets in the colder weather — to those struggling to survive rough on the streets at 23 stops around the city. For many homeless New Yorkers, this is their only meal of the day.

In its nearly 30 year history, the program has distributed more than five million meals and has never missed a single night of operation — allowing us to build an invaluable level of trust among some of the hardest to reach and most marginalized of our homeless neighbors. The GCFP team, which includes a Mobile Outreach Worker, uses that trust to connect those on the streets with other life-changing services such as psychiatric treatment, medical care, substance abuse treatment, or shelter and vital benefits offered by the Coalition and partner organizations.

Volunteers — who help us hand out the food and drive the vans — are the lifeblood of GCFP, and usually commit to one day per week. Click below to learn more.

Our Corporate Sponsors help us cover the cost of delivering the meals to our homeless and hungry neighbors, while providing volunteer opportunities for their own employees. The sponsorships also let the company publicly demonstrate its commitment to civic responsibility and making New York a more humane and livable city.

GCFP Video

The Grand Central Food Program delivers hot, nutritious meals to approximately 1,000 homeless and hungry men, women and children on the streets of NYC every night of the year.

Cheat Sheet

Homelessness in NYC: The Facts

Tonight, more than 60,000 New Yorkers will sleep in homeless shelters, the most since the Great Depression.

Roughly 80% of those in shelter are families, including more than25,000 kids.